How to Style Flannel for Fall for Family Photos

Ah yes, the family photo - a classic, a must. How else will your distant relatives know how adorable the kiddos are and how much they’ve grown? Not to mention, your kids are changing all the time, so it’s a great idea to capture this moment—you will treasure it for years to come. What better time for a photo shoot than the fall? The leaves look incredible (if you’ve opted for an outside photoshoot), the light is golden, and maybe there’s still a hint of summer tan on your face.

Fall makes us think of beautiful foliage, pumpkin spiced everything, and a classic—the flannel. If you want a flannel theme for your photo shoot looks no further. Follow this guide for easy breezy styling tips to get your flannel game on point for your fall photoshoot.

The Most Important Part of the Photo is The People in It

At Lands’ End, we love and celebrate family diversity. There is a huge range for what your photo can look like, just as there is a big range of family structures, with the commonality that within a family you love and care for each other.

We’re big on accommodating to make the process of the photo shoot a fun family outing where everyone is happy and comfortable. If you’ve got a family member who is not super mobile or cannot stand for long periods of time, we recommend one of our sturdy outdoor rocking chairs to give them somewhere comfy to sit that will look great in the photos.

Flannel Everything? We Support it

We support all flannel all the time. That being said, if you’re going for a slightly more subtle look than matching outfits, we’ve got a few ideas for how to make flannel an accent and not distract from the most important of the photo—the people in it. We know getting everyone dressed in the morning can already be quite the ordeal, but after reading this guide and putting in a little bit of planning, you’ll have one less thing to worry about on the day of the photo shoot.

Select a Color Palate and Base Your Outfits Off It

We recommend starting with a color scheme. Luckily, fall provides us with an incredible palate to choose from. Burgundy, harvest gold, amber, rusty orange, plum, and so many more. Picking a few bold colors such as these to be included in your family members’ outfits can give you a good place to begin. To avoid an overwhelm of colors, make sure your color palate has a good amount of neutral included in it. Neutral colors like cream, tan, camel, and beige can balance your photo. Try to save pure white and pure black for a different photoshoot, as it won’t quite blend with your fall scheme. Now, on to how to strategically place flannel in your photo.

Flannel Accents with A Variety of Solid Color Clothing Items

Here is one example to get your creative gears turning - but let’s be real, the possibilities are endless. We’ll start with mom. We’ve elected to dress her in one of our solid-colored cashmere sweaters, either in a neutral like cream or statement color like plum, and accented with our plaid cash touch scarf, which can be found in our shawls and wraps. Dad will look sharp in one of our high-quality flannel shirts paired with a nice chino pant.

We envision one of the kids wearing a flannel with a vest to add another solid color into the mix of flannel. Another kid could be wearing a solid color sweater either matching mom’s or any color within the palate you’ve chosen from, with a flannel laid on their shoulders or wrapped around the waist. We haven’t forgotten your furbaby, who can be holding down the theme with a flannel bandana from our pet accessories. Can you imagine how cute the family dog will look with a monogrammed bandana that says “Wolfgang”?

A Family Photo Captures A Special Moment in Time

As you can imagine, there is plenty of flannel in this photo but there are plenty of other colors and articles of clothing that lend flannel to be an accent piece, rather than the focus. Whether you elect for all the flannel in the photo to be exactly the same print or for it to be different colors is really up to you. Contrasting flannels can work, so long as the color schemes blend harmoniously together.